Hang In There
by theweatheroutsideisfrightful
Summary: Jane and Gunther have always had mixed feelings towards eachother. And when things go wrong for Gunther in the middle of the forest, it's up to Jane to save him.


**So hi.**

**I've been reading a fair bit of JatD fanfiction on here, so I thought I'd have a go at writing some. I don't write many stories so bear with me. I'm sorry if you hate it, but I tried my best. Let me know if you **_**did **_**like it though.**

**DISLAIMER: Obviously I do not own Jane and the Dragon.**

* * *

"Jane! JANE!" Dragons voice echoed through my ears, an early morning wake-up call.

"Dragon" I complained, rolling over to see his face outside my window.

"You will never believe what the cows in the paddock just did" He stuck his head through the frame, so that his green scaly face was right next to mine.

"Do I have to?" I rolled over and turned my back towards him.

Without an answer, he began rambling on about his stupid fascination with cows.

"…..and then it just stared back at me…Jane, are you listening to me?" Dragon pulled the cover from over my head and exposed my eyes to the harsh light of morning.

"No" I answered in the most flat, uninterested tone that I could manage.

"Well one shortlife woke up on the wrong side of bed this morning"

"Well you would too if you had to work with Gunther and only Gunther for several days" I sat up and started to dress myself.

"Come on now, he's not that bad, some of his dung jokes are real winners" I stared at him discontentedly. "But if you'd like, I could charcoal him a little, you know fry his little shortlife legs"

"Hmmm, no, as tempting as it is, I don't think that Sir Theodore would be very pleased with you or me for that matter" I walked out of my quarters and climbed onto dragon for the morning patrol.

"And I don't see why old Rusty Legs wont let me tag along, I could be amazing help"

"Because Dragon, that would be cheating" I started "The mission is for me and Gunther to put our survival skills into place"

"But what if something happens to you, like if you got lost, or if you got caught in a storm, I would never forgive myself" Dragon circled the castle.

"You have my word as a knight, that I will not hurt myself" I raised my right hand and swore my oath. Dragon simply nodded in approval. "Can you see anything Dragon?"

"Only your small, greasy haired friend and rusty legs setting up a horse for you trip"

"Sir _Theodore_ and I wouldn't go so far as calling Gunther a friend, perhaps, acquaintances would be more appropriate" Dragon laughed at my comment. "What?"

"I think you two are more than just acquaintances" I said nothing but my silence questioned his statement. "He's not too bad, I mean, he makes stupid remarks and tries to make to make you look stupid, but I believe he's a good kid on the inside" I knew that he had more to say, so I let my silence draw him on. "Look at the way he is with Princess Lavinia, he would never hurt her. He's always so gentle and caring."

"But nobody could ever hurt Lavinia, everybody loves her" We circled around the castle again.

"But he just has a way with her" I rolled my eyes at Dragons sudden interest in Gunther, "Jane just promise me that you'll be nicer to him"

"But-"

"Jane."

"Fine I promise, but can I ask, why the sudden interest with him?"

"Well" he began "After you and he declared your fake courtship for each other before your duel, you both had a sudden change in personality. He just didn't appear to be as cruel and dim-witted as he used to be, and you seemed to be even more unfair towards him than you were before. I just think that he was a little, disappointed" When I didn't answer this time, I knew that he wouldn't continue.

"Come on, take me down, I better start helping them" Without an answer, Dragon gracefully flew down and landed neatly beside Gunther and Sir Theodore.

Honestly it had never dawned on me that Dragon was so caring towards everyone. I mean, don't get me wrong, his dragon temper and threats to burn people to a crust are rather horrid, but he's a sweet soul none the less. _But Gunther?_ Dragon knows that I have a strong dislike towards him, _so why was he defending him? _Dragon said that Gunther was disappointed, _but with what? With me?_ _Did Gunther in fact, like me in that way?_ No, I couldn't afford to think like that.

"Nice of you to come and help us Jane" Gunther strolled over to where me and Dragon had landed, "but no need to worry your sweet little head, me and Sir Theodore did the most of it" I shot Dragon a look, but he merely laughed.

"Sorry Sir, I was on patrol"

"Quite alright Jane, it was good practise for Gunther to saddle up a horse" Gunther scoffed "he's not as experienced in that field as you are Jane." I could feel Gunther's grey eyes, glaring at Sir Theodore.

"Well Jane, if we want to go before dark, you'd better stop chatting" Gunther remarked, and this time it was Sir Theodore who was doing the glaring. I quickly looked over to Dragon, who only smiled and winked at me.

I turned back around to find Gunther climbing aboard the horse. I quickly pulled Sir Theodore aside, "Sir, why is it that there is only the one horse?" He turned me away from Gunther.

"Because Jane, the whole point of this lesson is teamwork, use that and you'll be fine out there" I nodded and climbed on the horse behind Gunther.

"Goodbye Jane, I shall see you in a few days" Dragon called out as he flew into the sky and in the direction of his cave. Jester, Pepper, Rake and Smithy all assembled to say their goodbyes. I waved at them, but it was clear that Gunther did not want to wait, and our house quickly gained speed.

It was a good couple of kilometres before either of us spoke. "You could have been nicer to them, and let them say goodbye to us.."

"I had no need to say goodbye to _your _friends" He answered sourly, which brought our pathetic conversation to an abrupt end.

We travelled for a couple of hours in silence, occasionally switching spots on the horse. We were venturing deeper and deeper into the forest, following the map that Sir Theodore had set for us, when the sun went away and things became quite dark. Gunther seemed to notice it as well, because we came to a halt.

"Hopefully it's not a storm" He looked back at me with his dark grey, worried eyes. I nodded and he instructed our horse to move. But when she didn't, I became anxious.

There was a sudden crack of thunder and a bolt of lightning lit up the sky. We exchanged a scared glance before the horse reared on her back legs and whinnied a piercing cry.

"I'm slipping!" I clung my legs around her centre and without thinking, grabbed my fellow squire tightly around his waist, "Gunther, I'm slipping!" I wailed as he tried to control the animal.

"So am I!" He let go of the reigns and we both fell forcefully to the ground. I landed first, in an awkward sitting up position. Gunther followed, landing on top of me. I let out a painful wail as my knee was being crushed by his backside.

"Get off me." I said through gritted teeth.

"Oh" He quickly rolled off me and stood up. "Sorry" he held out his hand to help me up. I quickly grabbed it.

When we looked around, the horse hadn't gone very far, she'd started to graze in a nearby opening.

"We should probably sleep here tonight" He went to go and collect the horse "You know because of your knee"

"But it's going to rain" I exclaimed.

"Don't be so silly Jane. Look" He pointed up toward the sky "The clouds are travelling that way, the storms already passed us." I rolled my eyes at his sudden knowledge in the climate.

Night was approaching, and there was the problem of what we were going to eat. Gunther went further into the forest in search of the evening meal. I tried my best to follow but my knee was prevailing me. I did my best to keep up with him, but eventually my injury got the better of me.

"Jane?" Gunther turned back to see me on the ground wincing from the pain that he had initially caused my leg. "Sorry Jane." He came back to me and held out his hand, I batted it away, not wanting to look weak.

"I'm fine" I said furiously, helping myself up.

"For goodness sakes Jane!" Gunther made me jump with his sudden outrage "I'm only trying to be nice and help, but clearly you're too stubborn too actually receive any" he walked away from me, muttering under his breath.

_You're too stubborn to actually receive any help. _I kept replaying his words in my mind as I limped back to where our belongings were. _Was he trying to help me? Was he being nice? Perhaps Dragon had been right…_ I chose not to dwell on the topic and started to make a fire.

Our dinner of charcoaled rodent, was nothing compared to Pepper's hearty soup on a cold night, but still, I was hungry and considering I'd eaten hardy anything all day, it was quite edible.

I watched Gunther pick off bits of food and gingerly place them in his mouth, feeling terrible for the way I dismissed his help earlier. I noticed his eyes were staring up to the darkening sky, delicately eyeing the fascinating constellations that were appearing before us.

"Gunther I'm sorry!" I blurted out, pleading with my eyes. He chuckled softly.

"It's perfectly alright Jane, you had a right to be angry,_ I_ was the one who fell on you" We both laughed and then lay down as we realised our own fatigue.

We lay there for a while in silence, and my eyes were growing heavy.

"Jane?" I turned on my side, "just so you know, I don't hate you, I actually quite…like you" he smiled sheepishly and I felt my cheeks growing hot. _I like you too. In fact, I love you…_

"Thank you Gunther" I returned his smile and rolled onto my other side, to avoid embarrassment.

_I actually quite like you…_

I let the words roll through my mind as I drifted off to sleep.


End file.
